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Topic: Reading/Book Pet Peeves (Read 1027107 times)

Taffeta & Hotspur Conn, ClaudyLord Thurston Tarrant, known as Hotspur on the London social scene, thinks Lady Taffeta Grantham is too young and idealistic. Experience has taught him that love is found only in fairy tales and that very few women can be trusted—especially young and attractive ones.

As for Taffy, she finds the rakehell cynical and arrogant—definitely not the hero, the man of principles and romance, her heart longs for. Besides, as one of the Rogues Three, she is more concerned with social injustice than a man who could use his influence to right wrongs but shows no interest in doing so.

So why does Tarrant find himself enchanted by the beautiful and high-spirited Taffy? Why does Taffy’s sporadic gift of sight insist on showing her visions of Tarrant as a bold and passionate lover—her lover?

When the prince of flirts catches the princess of thieves in a ‘Robin Hood’ encounter gone wrong, a secret is discovered, a promise is given, and two lives will be changed in ways neither could have dreamed.

Taffeta & Hotspur Conn, ClaudyLord Thurston Tarrant, known as Hotspur on the London social scene, thinks Lady Taffeta Grantham is too young and idealistic. Experience has taught him that love is found only in fairy tales and that very few women can be trusted—especially young and attractive ones.

As for Taffy, she finds the rakehell cynical and arrogant—definitely not the hero, the man of principles and romance, her heart longs for. Besides, as one of the Rogues Three, she is more concerned with social injustice than a man who could use his influence to right wrongs but shows no interest in doing so.

So why does Tarrant find himself enchanted by the beautiful and high-spirited Taffy? Why does Taffy’s sporadic gift of sight insist on showing her visions of Tarrant as a bold and passionate lover—her lover?

When the prince of flirts catches the princess of thieves in a ‘Robin Hood’ encounter gone wrong, a secret is discovered, a promise is given, and two lives will be changed in ways neither could have dreamed.

Totally just downloaded! Now I want to know where you get this free e-book list!

I know nothing about the name "Heather", but what's wrong with "Eric"? Denmark had a king Erik back in the 13th century.

I could see Eric on a Scandinavian, but don't think it was common in England at that time period.

Piratelvr1121 - totally agree with you about Wideacre! I read it after reading some of the royal books, and wow...."VC Andrews" is exactly right.

Fair enough. I assumed that it was - with the vikings and all - but will gladly admit to knowing nothing about it

If the rest of the book were historically accurate, I might have believed that this family had Scandinavian ancestors or something. But it was just so bad.

After writing this post last night, I was remembering even more about this book. A major plot point is that another nobleman comes to Eric with the story that his daughter was kidnapped at the age of 4 by Spanish pirates. She'd now be in her teens. Can Eric please go to Spain to rescue her? So Eric does, and he magically finds this girl, realizing that she must be the missing English girl, because she is blonde, and no blonde people live in Spain! So he kidnaps her and brings her back to England. Her name - given name by English parents in the 1500's - is Eden.

There also seemed a huge religious agenda -- with whole chapters being devoted to characters converting to the Orange religion and how righteous it was, while all Purple characters were portrayed as bad in every one-dimensional way. Then at the end, with the author bio, you learn the author is a professor at an Orange religion university! I remember thinking, if his goal was to convert people, it backfired, because all he did was show his own ignorance and lack of research.

I would normally stop reading such a bad book, but this was so bad, it was hilarious. I've been trying to Google and can't even find the title (it was a print book someone had left at a free library) so it really must have been bad.

Re the bolded: So the author of this story had never looked at a portrait of Catherine of Aragon? Who, despite the way she is consistently portrayed in movies/TV was a blonde Spanish princess?? It wasn't uncommon among the nobility, since most of the royal families were related to each other, often several times over. (Really, it's no wonder some of them weren't very mentally sound, considering all the inbreeding....)

Please tell me if you ever figure out the title, because I want to avoid reading it.

Although the Elizabeth and Mary living in the same house thing is possible...barely...I believe there were at least a few times when one visited the other, but I don't think it was common until Mary became Queen and Elizabeth was periodically at court until being placed under house arrest until Mary's death. So it could have been sent during one of those visits, I suppose...but given the rest of it, I'm probably giving the author way too much credit.

To be quite honest there have been only one or two that I read all the way through. However the blurb in the email is worth reading. I mean, if you have three spelling mistakes in the paragraph telling me to buy your book, what makes you think that it will attract customers.

Taffeta & Hotspur Conn, ClaudyLord Thurston Tarrant, known as Hotspur on the London social scene, thinks Lady Taffeta Grantham is too young and idealistic. Experience has taught him that love is found only in fairy tales and that very few women can be trusted—especially young and attractive ones.

As for Taffy, she finds the rakehell cynical and arrogant—definitely not the hero, the man of principles and romance, her heart longs for. Besides, as one of the Rogues Three, she is more concerned with social injustice than a man who could use his influence to right wrongs but shows no interest in doing so.

So why does Tarrant find himself enchanted by the beautiful and high-spirited Taffy? Why does Taffy’s sporadic gift of sight insist on showing her visions of Tarrant as a bold and passionate lover—her lover?

When the prince of flirts catches the princess of thieves in a ‘Robin Hood’ encounter gone wrong, a secret is discovered, a promise is given, and two lives will be changed in ways neither could have dreamed.

Totally just downloaded! Now I want to know where you get this free e-book list!

Well that was deliciously horrible: a Doritos locos taco for the brain.

I just stopped reading a book because the author set everything in West Virginia, specifically mentioning landmarks like Spruce Knob, and then offhandedly has a character thinking how wonderful it is to drive along the Continental Divide. Which happens to be a bit further West (as in, the Rocky Mountains). I wasn't really in to the story to begin with, and that just killed it for me.

Taffeta & Hotspur Conn, ClaudyLord Thurston Tarrant, known as Hotspur on the London social scene, thinks Lady Taffeta Grantham is too young and idealistic. Experience has taught him that love is found only in fairy tales and that very few women can be trusted—especially young and attractive ones.

As for Taffy, she finds the rakehell cynical and arrogant—definitely not the hero, the man of principles and romance, her heart longs for. Besides, as one of the Rogues Three, she is more concerned with social injustice than a man who could use his influence to right wrongs but shows no interest in doing so.

So why does Tarrant find himself enchanted by the beautiful and high-spirited Taffy? Why does Taffy’s sporadic gift of sight insist on showing her visions of Tarrant as a bold and passionate lover—her lover?

When the prince of flirts catches the princess of thieves in a ‘Robin Hood’ encounter gone wrong, a secret is discovered, a promise is given, and two lives will be changed in ways neither could have dreamed.

Totally just downloaded! Now I want to know where you get this free e-book list!

'Taffeta looked out the window as their well-sprung carriage rumbled languidly over the country road.'

Perhaps not the most immortal of opening lines...

I use BookBub, Ereads and Pixel of Ink for my freebie and low-cost Kindle books. Don't remember how I found them, except Pixel of Ink is on Facebook. The other two send me emails. BookBub also has 'Inspired Reads', for those who want Christian books (romances without graphic sex, nonfiction).

I just stopped reading a book because the author set everything in West Virginia, specifically mentioning landmarks like Spruce Knob, and then offhandedly has a character thinking how wonderful it is to drive along the Continental Divide. Which happens to be a bit further West (as in, the Rocky Mountains). I wasn't really in to the story to begin with, and that just killed it for me.

I just stopped reading a book because the author set everything in West Virginia, specifically mentioning landmarks like Spruce Knob, and then offhandedly has a character thinking how wonderful it is to drive along the Continental Divide. Which happens to be a bit further West (as in, the Rocky Mountains). I wasn't really in to the story to begin with, and that just killed it for me.

Three books will forever stand out as my loss of innocence. I thought authors were always right before I learned that the Internet is Always Right.

One was a Fanny Flagg book. Little Bobby went to St. Louis in 1938 or thereabouts and had his picture taken under the Arch, which was being built when I graduated high school in 1963. Then we got a kids' book in the school library that showed a picture on the cover of the child's bookshelf. It had a toy 57 Chevy, but the kid died in the late 30's. The very best was an early reader which stated that the dinosaurs died out because a large star hit the Earth. Not a meteorite or meteor, but a star. At least I managed to get that one pulled!

For those who need a Taffeta update:She is the daughter of a duke, but she and her brother are amateur highwaymen.She rides astride.. in a riding habit...in 1813.She is described as young, barely out of the schoolroom, and has not had her first London season...at 20.Oh, yes, and she's psychic. On page 1, she has a vision of a naked man. Who is described in detail.

The saddest part of this mess is that the dialogue uses actual Regency slang. Which is really brain-hurty. It's like she knows enough to know they wouldn't talk like 21st century people...but when it comes to their actions, she's just given up.

For those who need a Taffeta update:She is the daughter of a duke, but she and her brother are amateur highwaymen.She rides astride.. in a riding habit...in 1813.She is described as young, barely out of the schoolroom, and has not had her first London season...at 20.Oh, yes, and she's psychic. On page 1, she has a vision of a naked man. Who is described in detail.

The saddest part of this mess is that the dialogue uses actual Regency slang. Which is really brain-hurty. It's like she knows enough to know they wouldn't talk like 21st century people...but when it comes to their actions, she's just given up.

For those who need a Taffeta update:She is the daughter of a duke, but she and her brother are amateur highwaymen.She rides astride.. in a riding habit...in 1813.She is described as young, barely out of the schoolroom, and has not had her first London season...at 20.Oh, yes, and she's psychic. On page 1, she has a vision of a naked man. Who is described in detail.

The saddest part of this mess is that the dialogue uses actual Regency slang. Which is really brain-hurty. It's like she knows enough to know they wouldn't talk like 21st century people...but when it comes to their actions, she's just given up.

Let's not forget the Duke who actually says "ain't."

"Ain't" was an acceptable contraction in the 18th and early 19th centuries. It was degraded to a vulgarism - used by the lower classes more recently, according to my grammar professors and what I have found in internet research - I don't know how to forward websites in Explorer 8. I did a bit of reading of Swift and Dickens in my college years and saw it used by them seriously, not as dialect.

In the United Kingdom, ain't is generally used only by the working classes, such as those speaking the Cockney dialect, and is often considered improper speech by the middle and upper classes, in contrast to 19th century England where it was readily used in familiar speech by the educated and upper classes.

I believe that Sir Percy uses "ain't" in The Scarlet Pimpernel, as published in 1903, so it's not unbelievable.

Taffeta & Hotspur Conn, ClaudyLord Thurston Tarrant, known as Hotspur on the London social scene, thinks Lady Taffeta Grantham is too young and idealistic. Experience has taught him that love is found only in fairy tales and that very few women can be trusted—especially young and attractive ones.

As for Taffy, she finds the rakehell cynical and arrogant—definitely not the hero, the man of principles and romance, her heart longs for. Besides, as one of the Rogues Three, she is more concerned with social injustice than a man who could use his influence to right wrongs but shows no interest in doing so.

So why does Tarrant find himself enchanted by the beautiful and high-spirited Taffy? Why does Taffy’s sporadic gift of sight insist on showing her visions of Tarrant as a bold and passionate lover—her lover?

When the prince of flirts catches the princess of thieves in a ‘Robin Hood’ encounter gone wrong, a secret is discovered, a promise is given, and two lives will be changed in ways neither could have dreamed.

Totally just downloaded! Now I want to know where you get this free e-book list!